Bloom Day August 15, 2012

I'm still getting re-assimilated to the Northwest, but I've definitely gotten into my gardening groove. It has been a super nice summer so far in the Northwest - actually it has been unusually warm. Temps have been in the upper 80's and will even be in the mid 90's the next couple days! The peeps around these parts are really feeling the heat, but having just moving from Central Texas, I gotta say that this heat doesn't even phase me. I'm actually loving it! This nice and warm, sunny weather has really set the flowers to blooming, so here we go.

Zinnias. These look astounding! This is the first time for me growing them from seed up here and I'm making these an annual staple. Love them!:

Orange Zinnia:

Pink Zinnia:

The Sunflowers are bloomin' crazy!:

Nasturtiums. These are just huge. Ginormous, even. I'll need to do a separate post just for these:



Wildflower mix. Gorgeous mix of poppies, california bluebells, and Farewell to spring:



Farewell to Spring (Clarkia amoena). I'm really excited about these because I tried multiple times to grow them in Central Texas but it was just to hot and couldn't take the occasional freeze if I tried to grow them in winter. But up here they are simply stupendous:

Lupine. Grown from seed planted early May and just starting to really bloom now:

Scarlet runner beans. These also get huge here in the cooler climate. I planted them in the shade in Austin and even then they always turned crispy by August and almost never set beans, but up here they get full sun and set beans. Love the red:

Lupine and hot lips salvia. This salvia really grows well up here. I'll be adding more of this to the garden for sure:

Cosmos. These are 4-5 ft tall right now. There is deer netting around the garden to keep those systematic plant munchers out, so that's what the netting is in the pic in case you were curious:

Tithonia or Mexican Sunflower. This one is also thriving and just gorgeous:

California poppies. These have been blooming for some time now and are falling all over themselves, but still continue blooming:

Turks cap! I brought this one with me from Austin as it was one of my favorite plants ever, but I had to de-pot it since I ran out of room for all the pots. I repotted it when I got up here and it kind of languished for a while, (I think partly because our spring, early summer up here is more like winter down there so the plant thought it should be dormant!) but I gave it liquid seaweed and with the recent heat it has really taken off. I'm sure it won't attain ginormous proportions like it did in Austin, but at least I still have one to admire:

Gourd blossom. Pretty:

Pumpkin blossom:

Russian Sage. Oh boy, I think this one is gonna get ginormous up here:

Closer:

Dianthus. It's been constantly blooming since spring:

Orangy rose. I have no idea what the name of it is, but it was on sale and so pretty, so it came home with me:

Spanish lavender. I thought it might be too humid for these up here, but they are everywhere and growing like gangbusters. Another winner:

Red Riding Hood Penstemon. This is the second blooming since spring, so I guess it just keeps blooming all summer:

Agastache. This is so loaded with blossoms, it's falling over. This one was not very successful for me in Austin. It survived, but just barely and I even had it in part shade. But up here it is going bonkers:

Hollyhock Mallow. I want more of these:

Gulf Penstemon. I also brought this one back from Austin with me. It seems to be doing well and is a summer bloomer up here as opposed to a spring bloomer down there.

Lisanthus. This one is a hybrid of the Texas Bluebell. Not as pretty nor as tall, but still nice. How I miss the real Texas Bluebells! My winter project is to try and propagate Real Texas Bluebell seeds. If that fails, the next time I visit Austin, I'm bringing starts back with me:

Big Red Sage. I love this plant so much. I brought it with me from Texas and it seems to be doing fine. I hope to get it to reseed itself:

Rain lilies. I brought a clump of these back with me as well, not sure if they would bloom, 

but here they are blooming away. Yay!:

Pink Snapdragon vine. These I grew from seed in Austin and dug some up to bring with me. They are doing just fine and have started blooming:

Abutilon. Also came with me from Austin, but it is doing better up here than it was down there. It seems to like the cooler weather. I have it in fairly deep shade where it gets only a couple hours of morning sun up here as well:



I have no idea what this plant is, but it came up in the flowerbed and has cotton-candy like fluffy pink flowers all over it:

 

That's it folks! I'm off to enjoy the hot weather. Happy Bloom day!